VITAL INGREDIENTS OF PRAYER
Memorise:
And when ye stand praying, forgive if ye have ought against any: that your Father also which is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses. Mark 11:25
Read: Mark 11:22-26, (KJV)
Bible in one year: Galatians 4-6, Psalms 18:1-19
MESSAGE
Our Lord Jesus Christ did not only give us an outline for prayer in what is popularly called "The Lord's Prayer" (Luke 11:2-4),
He also gave us some vital ingredients of prayer. The first in our
consideration is faith. The Almighty God demands that we have faith in
Him. A man that prays without faith cannot get anything substantial from
the spiritual exercise of prayer. When we pray, we should be assured
that God is capable of doing whatever our desires are. Doubt is a
grievous offence before the Almighty God. The children of Israel that
doubted the capability of God were consumed by the fiery anger of the
God who had been erstwhile benevolent to them, however, as many as
believed in His Almightiness received great recompense for their faith.
"But
let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a
wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. For let not that man
think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord."
James 1:6-7
Another
vital ingredient of the prayer that God will answer is forgiveness.
This is a two-edged sword. Blessed is he that is forgiven, sin a
hindrance to prayer. Unless we are forgiven, our prayer cannot be
answered. This is why our Lord Jesus put an aspect of confession of sin
in the prayer outline (Luke 11:4). No matter how old we may be in
the Lord, if we discover any sin ranging from lying, outburst if
unwarranted anger etc in our lives while we are getting set to pray, we
must confess that sin first. The Bible says:
"If
we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not
us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our
sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."
1st John 1:8-9
On the other hand, our Lord Jesus Christ said:
"And
when ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have aught against any: that your
Father also which is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.
Mark 11:25
Many
of us come to the throne of mercy without the milk of mercy in our
hearts. We come for mercy while we are not merciful; we come for
forgiveness and we are not forgiving. What an irony? In Matthew 18:32-35,
our Lord told the parable of the wicked servant who jailed his fellow
worker that owed him a little after he himself had received pardon for a
greater debt. His forgiving spirit made him forfeit the pardon for the
debt he earlier received. Beloved, let us cultivate the habit of
forgiving one another, at least for the fact that our Father in Heaven
forgives every of our sins.
Prayer PointFather, please increase my faith and put in me the spirit that freely forgive.
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